Promoting Resiliency: Understanding the Intersection Between Self-Awareness and Self-Compassion

This webinar will focus on promoting resiliency in ourselves (the supporter) to better serve students with a history in foster care who have experienced complex trauma. A main focus of the material will be understanding how we can gain deeper awareness of ourselves and the impact of our own primary and/or secondary traumas in the work we do. The purpose is to improve our ability to be resilient, and in so doing, improve our ability to teach resiliency skills to others. Topics to be covered include: 1) common forms of cognitive distortion and how they interplay in student interactions; 2) signs that self-care is needed; 3) engaging self-compassion as a tool to promote resilience.

LISA JEAN FÉINICS is a former foster youth who graduated with a PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior from the University of Washington in 1998. For a number of years, Dr. Féinics worked as both a scientist and an educator at biomedical research institutes and universities in the United States and abroad, including The Scripps Research Institute, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, the University of Aruba, and the University of Michigan-Flint. She now coaches students with lived-experience in foster care towards college success at Portland Community College, and advocates both locally and nationally for programs that support their educational goals. In her spare time, Dr. Féinics gives inspirational talks about her life, which she detailed in her book, Alternate Ending: An Inspirational True Story about Beating the Odds.

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Fostering Success Michigan is a statewide initiative that aims to increase access and success in higher education and post-college careers for youth with experience in foster care. Learn how you can contribute to building a holistic network that insulates (i.e., strengthens protective factors and reduces risks) the education to career "pipeline."